Not Applicable.
No federally sponsored research or development was used or is cited in the discovery of this invention.
Not applicable.
The subject matter to which this invention pertains is in the field of video surveillance and remote automated inspection techniques. Railway crossing incidents will rise with projected increases in the use of railway transportation systems. The warning signals placed at rail-highway crossings are relied upon to warn the motorist of the right-of-way of an approaching locomotive. These warning signals may be configured as a gate or physical obstruction to the path of the motorist, a recognizable visual sign with a flashing colored light and bell, or merely an audible bell that sounds as the train approaches. The pilot of the locomotive is also required by statute to sound the horn as the train approaches the crossing. Intuitively, the safest and most effective way to warn the motorist of the crossing conditions is the lowering gate, thereby obstructing the path and causing the motorist to stop and heed the warning. Although it is the most effective, it is also the most expensive, both in construction and maintenance cost, thus limiting its usage to only the most hazardous of rail-highway intersections. As is the case with all mechanical systems, warning devices are prone to failure and therefore must be inspected periodically. The inspection schedule, as required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), consists of a monthly field examination of a set of physical parameters measured on the warning signal. The cost of warning device inspections is graduated to the level of the complexity of the warning device, namely, the more complex the warning signal, the more intensive and therefore expensive the inspection. Although scheduled inspections may at times reveal incipient failure of the device, not all inspections can be or are performed perfectly and some impending signal failures can not be foreseen merely by periodic inspection.
The operating condition of the signal is based on predictive outcome. This is to say that if the signal is inspected and the measured parameters are within the specifications, it is predicted that the signal will continue to function properly until the next inspection. The invention presented herein provides a reliable, cost-effective alternative to the predictive inspection technique and will provide an expeditious visual means of determining cause and fault in case of crossing mishaps. On Mar. 15, 1999, Amtrak""s City of New Orleans derailed after striking a steel-laden tractor-trailer in a rail-highway crossing near Bourbonnais, Ill., killing thirteen people. The tractor-trailer driver claimed that the crossing gates were not operating when he proceeded into the crossing. The railroad official claimed that the gates had been inspected as scheduled but could offer no proof as to whether the gates were operating at the time of the collision. The train pilot was too shaken to speak and the single witness to the crash could not properly communicate details of the crash to the investigators because the witness did not speak English. This invention would have been of significant value since the events at the crossing would have been recorded in real-time as the locomotive passed through the crossing.
Prevention of crossing accidents is another key element of this invention. By providing a means of spontaneously and automatically inspecting the rail-highway crossing signal without human interaction or assistance. The rail vehicle""s on-board computer or a computer at a remote station connected wirelessly by an existing satellite network, can process the visual image of the crossing signal and a determination of the operational status of the signal can be made spontaneously.
The objective of the present invention is to fulfill the need for an effective, inexpensive and secure method of inspecting rail-highway warning signals and providing an audible and visual record of the events that happen at the crossing as the locomotive approaches and passes through the crossing. The invention will substitute a spontaneous, automatic, real-time inspection technique in place of the predictive-based technique. This technique utilizes existing components to formulate a platform whereby digital image processing may be used to perform the inspection of rail-highway crossing gates every time a locomotive approaches and passes a crossing. Alternatively, human operators may view the images and video in order to investigate the operation of the equipment. This device will also allow timely determination of the cause and fault of a crossing mishap, reducing the amount of investigative resources expended at the wreck site.